Just finished Ethan Hawke’s epistolary novel written as a letter from a knight going into battle, to their children, imparting knowledge and what they assume will be their last words.
The book is brief and contains simple, effective language and great advice, mostly collected from various sources (credited at the end).
A few rules that stood out to me:
Humility
Never announce that you are a knight, simply behave as one.
Friendship
The quality of your life will, to a large extent, be decided by with whom you elect to spend your time.
Forgiveness
Those who cannot easily forgive will not collect many friends. Look for the best in others.
Discipline
Excellence lives in attention to detail. Give your all, all the time. Don’t save anything for the walk home.